------------------------------------------6/04 - Destin writes ...Mr. Niednagel - I am reading the Case for A Creator ... The book uses the Big Bang as evidence for God's existence, stating that if their was a Bang then there had to be something, or Someone, to start it. I am unsure as to whether I should believe the theory, because it contradicts the Bible ... One of the evidences used in the book ... is that the Universe is expanding, and that would mean it would have once been more compact--until it exploded. I know this agrees with the Bible in that God stretches the heavens, but I don't see how it fits with the first paragraph in Genesis. Can you help??
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Thanks for the question, Destin. I selected yours because, ironically, I am also reading The Case For A Creator by Lee Strobel at the present time, and thus far have enjoyed it for the most part. As far as the big bang as evidence for God, though, I'm not exactly on the same page with Strobel, and here's why.

If the universe came from a big bang, then matter should be evenly distributed throughout the universe. The opposite, however, is true. The universe contains an extremely uneven distribution of mass, where matter is concentrated into zones and planes and relatively empty regions. Galaxies are clustered like cosmic clumps of sand, then surrounded by vast empty reaches of space. Secondly, not all astronomers even agree that the universe is expanding. Halton C. Arp, a critic of the big bang theory, and who was attached to the world-famous Mount Wilson Observatory near Pasadena, USA, and to the Las Campanas Observatories in California, said this in an article called, 'Der kontinuierlicher Kosmos': "Since antiquity, ideas of the universe have varied widely, depending on assumptions about factual observations. The current idea of a big bang has been the standard model for about 60 years. But, in the mean time, the number of observations that negate the assumption that the red shift of the light of distant galaxies can be explained by recessive motions, is increasing."

More simply put, the idea that the universe is expanding is being attacked by some astronomers, which wouldn't necessarily contradict the Bible, as God could have stretched the heavens at the beginning, and then ceased.

Whatever the case, there is much more powerful evidence to be found for a Creator then trying to prove the big bang.
Thanks for writing,

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